The title basically lays it out.
Some workers, such as oil rig divers, may need to work for 100% of the time being stuck a few hundred feet under water. But, then they are given a month (or more) off. If they are hourly employees do they get overtime for the way more than 40 hours per week they work while on the job or can the employer say that, over some time like a month, they are working less than 40 hours per week?
I can’t answer but speaking anecdotally, I work 12hr shifts. The last 4hrs of everyday I get time and a half.
I have no idea if my employer does this because they have to, or if they’re trying to stay competitive.
My understanding is, by law, workers must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week.
But then, can I work you for 12 hours/day for three days per week and avoid overtime? Then I hire two people and it is less expensive for me. I dunno.
In Nevada the law specifies that hours after 8 in a single shift must be compensated at 1.5x the normal pay rate and all hours after 40 in a work-week are at 1.5x the normal rate.
I would expect they would be paid their contracted rate for seven or fourteen consecutive shifts of twelve hours an day followed by seven or fourteen days off. I couldn’t image working sixteen hours a day for a week.
Federal law states 40 hours per week, no limit on the number of hours per day.
In Hawaii, when I worked for an inventory service, sometimes we would work for 12-16 hours straight with outside breaks because we were literally locked in the store. The busy season was January and some people would for days without sleep, going from job to job.
When I worked at the print shop at OfficeMax, I’d sometimes work for over 24 hours straight when we had big print jobs, only getting a lunch and dinner break. I was paid OT only when I went over 40 hours for the week.
For contracted jobs, the contract may specify number that OT be paid for work over 8 hours as well as double time for holiday pay. IIRC, this was usually for State projects. I also know for certain that on Federal projects, no one was allowed to work on Labor Day.
The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek. The Act does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.
The Act applies on a workweek basis. An employee’s workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime
However, State law may specify an 8 hour day. For example in California, with exemptions:
[edit: ninjaed by Snowboard_Bo]
In California, the general overtime provisions are that a nonexempt employee 18 years of age or older, or any minor employee 16 or 17 years of age who is not required by law to attend school and is not otherwise prohibited by law from engaging in the subject work, shall not be employed more than eight hours in any workday or more than 40 hours in any workweek unless he or she receives one and one-half times his or her regular rate of pay for all hours worked over eight hours in any workday and over 40 hours in the workweek (or double time as specified below). Eight hours of labor constitutes a day’s work, and employment beyond eight hours in any workday or more than six days in any workweek requires the employee to be compensated for the overtime at not less than:
1. One and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of eight hours up to and including 12 hours in any workday, and for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek; and
2. Double the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 12 hours in any workday and for all hours worked in excess of eight on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.
There are, however, a number of exemptions from the overtime law. An “exemption” means that the overtime law does not apply to a particular classification of employees. There are also a number of exceptions to the general overtime law stated above. An “exception” means that overtime is paid to a certain classification of employees on a basis that differs from that stated above. In other words, an exception is a special rule. (For special rules regarding overtime for agricultural workers, please see Overtime for Agricultural Workers.)
Right. I work in CA but at my job we have an exemption built into our contract to allow for compressed work schedules. So people voluntarily work 9 or 10 hours workdays without the OT for those extra hours with the compensation being instead shorter work weeks. You can opt out and work straight eights if you prefer and management can also deny it if there is a coverage issue. Works out well for everyone and we do otherwise get paid OT for all other situations.
Yes.
This is standard practice for a lot of businesses. At OfficeMax, unless we were absolutely needed to be there, at 40 hours for the week, no matter what you were doing, you had to clock out and go home.
In addition,The Federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers to offer medical insurance for anyone working 30 hours per week or 130 hours in a month. So some employers allow employees to work only 29 hours a week.
This is how some people fall through the cracks, because they work multiple part time jobs and never receive company medical.
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/partimebenefits.aspx.
Again, State law may be stricter. In Hawaii it’s 20 hours per week, for four consecutive weeks.
https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/files/2013/01/PHC-highlights.pdf
When I did HR, after the third consecutive week, I’d prepare the employee’s medical election paperwork to be sure we got the employee enrolled by the next billing period, which is always billed ahead of the following month.
Re-reading the topic and OP.
No, it’s illegal to shift hours from one work week to the next. [edit: Either by the employer or the employee]
As for the OP, Oil workers may be Independent Contractors, which means they can work as many hours as the contact or job requires without any overtime because they’re not employees of the company even though they may be paid by the hour.
They’re also not eligible for any type of medical or other benefits.
How does it work if one is a fireman, with 24-hour shifts? Surely the hours will not divide evenly into 7-day weeks.
It sucks. I found it very do-able when I was younger but increasingly difficult and impactful on my long-term health as I got older. At 54 I decided that I wasn’t going to continue to slowly kill myself for other people’s profit any more.
The Fair Labor Standards Act has a partial exemption for firefighters and law enforcement, though I don’t recall the terms exactly. Local and state governments are allowed to schedule them for more than 40 hours a week without overtime but there are still restrictions and conditions.
Our entire business unit (about 20,000 employees) is on 9/80 (80 hours in 9 working days over two weeks). It was quite an undertaking to shift to this (about 15 years ago). For California:
California Labor Code Section 510(a)(1) provides that “any work in excess of 8 hours in one day shall be compensated at the overtime rate of time and a half. This does not apply, however, to an employee working pursuant to a properly adopted AWS. ”
What’s an alternative work schedule in California? An alternative work schedule, or “AWS,” refers to a compressed or flexible work schedule. Two common AWSs are the so-called “4/10” or “9/80” schedules. Under a 4/10 schedule, employees work 10 hours a day for four days and receive no daily overtime, but receive an additional day off. A 9/80 schedule compresses 80 hours of work into nine work days instead of the usual 10 under a regular bi-weekly schedule. Employees do not receive overtime pay based on the extra eight hours, but they receive an extra day off every two weeks.
So not only more than 8 hours a day, but more than 40 hours in a week (week one is four 9 hour days, week 2 is four 9 hour days and one 8 hour day)
I think that what you are describing would fall under the idea of “comp time” (i.e., time off in lieu of overtime). It’s not strictly comp time, but the idea of working 60 hours one week and 20 hours the next week, and getting paid 80 hours bi-weekly is close.
Unless you are a government employee (plus additional requirements), I believe that this is a violation of the FLSA and also of many state wage laws.
(Although, as I understand it, the FSLA only, and not state wage laws, would govern offshore oil workers in your example. See Parker Drilling Management v. Newton).
Often time on call is not counted against OT hours worked unless you are actually called up.
When I was a tech, I had to do a day every month on call, which meant that at anytime over a 24 hour period, they could call me up, and I’d have to be able to get to a site within an hour.
I got a decent payout for that day, whether or not I got called, and since I never actually got called up, I don’t remember what you got paid for going out, but it was pretty substantial.
I thought comp time still had to be comped at time and a half. So, for every hour of OT you work, you get an hour and a half of comp time to be spent at a later time.
There is a provision in the FLSA that creates a special system for firefighter (and law enforcement) that is based on total number of hours worked in a 28 day period.
What happens if you’re a firefighter, twenty hours into a 24-hour shift and are called to a fire that takes a long time get under control? Do you work four hours and then swap crews? Or do you continue past that time? I assume at some point, you’re completely exhausted.
As I understand it (and I’m no labor lawyer), comp time is simply unlawful for private employers (although commonly used). It is permitted for certain government agencies (under certain conditions) and must be provided at time and a half.
At some point ( not necessarily when the 24 hour shift is over) they will be relieved by another crew.